1998

October 8: All Citicorp and Travelers Group divisions merge to become Citigroup Inc.

1999

Citibank launches CitiDirect Online Banking, the first multi-product, multi-geographic Internet banking system.

March: Nikko Salomon Smith Barney Ltd., a joint venture of Salomon Smith Barney and Japan's Nikko Securities Co., Ltd., begins operations in Tokyo.

March 1: Citibank purchases Financiero Atlas, the No. 2 consumer finance company in Chile.

September: Citigroup and its Ripplewood Holdings partners win right to purchase Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan (later renamed Shinsei Bank), the first foreign owners of a Japanese bank.

All U.S. and Canadian branches of Commercial Credit are rebranded CitiFinancial.

October: Retired U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin joins the Office of the Chairman.

November: Citigroup acquires a stake in Japanese online brokerage firm Nikko Beans, Inc.

2000

February: Citibank Mexico increases its stake to 91% in Afore Garante, Mexican pension-fund manager.

March: Citigroup Inc. qualifies as a financial holding company, among the first to take advantage of the new Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Financial Services Modernization Act signed by President Clinton in November 1999.

April: The tender offer for all Class A shares of Travelers Property Casualty Corp. is completed; Citibank Mortgage becomes CitiMortgage, Inc. and is branded CitiMortgage.

May 1: The acquisition of the investment-banking business of Schroders PLC by Salomon Smith Barney establishes Schroder Salomon Smith Barney in the European market.

May: Citigroup Copelco Capital, Inc. acquires 130-year-old Bank Handlowy w Warszawie SA, leading corporate bank in Poland. A combined Bank Handlowy-Citibank (Poland) SA merger completed in February 2001 retains Bank Handlowy w Warszawie SA for commercial banking and the Citibank brand for retail banking, and creates Poland's leading financial institution.

July: Citigroup raises its stake to 100% in Argentina's Grupo Siembra, a retirement-services group.

Citibank becomes the first international bank to open a full-service branch in Israel.

Citibank opens a branch in Sofia, Bulgaria.

July 20: Citigroup acquires 15% of each of the five financial-services companies in Fubon Group, the largest-ever investment by a foreign firm in Taiwan's financial sector.

August: Citibank Rt. purchases the Hungarian retail activities of ING Bank.

October: Salomon Smith Barney purchases The Geneva Group, Inc., owner and operator of The Geneva Companies.

November 30: Citigroup acquires Associates First Capital Corporation, the fifth-largest consumer finance company in Japan. Associates' North American consumer finance operations are incorporated into CitiFinancial; its commercial unit into Global Equipment Finance; and its credit-card operations into Citibank's card operations.

2001

January: Citigroup's $13 billion of earnings in 2000 make it one of the world's most-profitable companies.

The "Citi. Live Richly" ad campaign is launched.

CitiInsurance, the international arm of Travelers Insurance, is formed.

February 27: Women and Company, a new Citigroup business that responds to the growing community of successful women who need access to traditional financial services, is introduced in the U.S.

February: The Citibank Private Bank, largest U.S.-based private banking business in the world, becomes The Citigroup Private Bank.

April: Citibank and China Merchants Bank issue China's first international travel cash card, Visa Travel Money.

July: Citigroup purchases full-service commercial bank European American Bank, strengthening its presence in metropolitan New York and Long Island markets.

August 6: Citigroup purchases Mexico's "Banacci" (Grupo Financiero Banamex-Accival), renames it Grupo Financiero Banamex and integrates operations in Mexico under the Banamex brand name. It is the largest foreign acquisition in Mexico and largest financial sector deal ever in Latin America.

November: Citibank acquires Kenyan business from ABN AMRO Bank.

2002

Citibank celebrates centennial anniversary in Asia, India and Europe.

January: Dutch insurer Aegon NV sells its stakes in life insurer Seguros Banamex Aegon and pension-fund manager Afore Banamex Aegon to Citigroup.

November 7: Citigroup acquires Golden State Bancorp, parent company of First Nationwide Mortgage and Cal Fed, second-largest U.S. thrift. The transaction enables Citibank to expand its retail distribution franchise in key California and Nevada markets and add approximately 1.5 million new customers. Cal Fed becomes Citibank (West), FSB, on November 13.

2003

April 7: Citigroup rebrands its corporate and investment banking business to Citigroup. The global private client division is rebranded Smith Barney.

April 28: Citigroup Global Markets Inc. (formerly Salomon Smith Barney) reaches final agreements with the New York Attorney General and regulators to resolve outstanding investigations into research, IPO allocation, and distribution practices.

July 16: Citigroup Global Markets begins trading in China's $500 billion yuan-denominated A share and debt markets. Citigroup is one of only two foreign companies allowed to trade A shares in the previously closed markets.

July 29: Citigroup will acquire the majority of Diners Club Europe from GTP Holding SpA, bringing Citigroup's stake to 100%. Diners franchises in the U.K., Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Germany and Switzerland are included.

August 30: The Citibank (New York State) legal entity merges with Citibank, N.A. legal entity.

September: The Tarjeta Tricolor Banamex card is the first joint product launched by Banamex. The debit card allows Mexicans living the U.S. to transfer funds to relatives in Mexico.

October 1: Charles O. (“Chuck”) Prince succeeds Sanford I. Weill as Chief Executive Officer of Citigroup, and Robert B. Willumstad, President, adds Chief Operating Officer to his role. Mr. Weill will remain Chairman of the Board until the 2006 annual shareholders meeting.

October 29: CitiMortgage and Fannie Mae announce a $100 billion affordable-lending alliance, largest such alliance in Fannie Mae's history.

October: For the first time, the Federal Reserve approves commodities trading by a bank, allowing Citigroup to retain control of Phibro, Inc., which it acquired in 1998 as part of the Citicorp-Travelers merger.

Citibank purchases a 4.62% stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co. Ltd. As Shanghai Pudong's fourth-largest shareholder, Citibank allies with China's ninth-largest bank and enters the country's emerging credit-card market.

November 3: Citigroup acquires Sears Credit and Financial Products' credit-card business and enters a multi-year marketing and servicing alliance with Sears. The $31.8 billion purchase includes Sears' private-label credit-card receivables and increases Citigroup's portfolio to 161 million accounts and $146 billion card receivables in North America, and 176 million accounts and $160 billion card receivables globally.

November 24: ZAO Citibank, Citigroup's Russian subsidiary, launches Citibank's first Russian credit card.

December 22: Citigroup acquires Forum Financial Group. Headquartered in Portland, Maine, and with operations in the U.S., Poland and Bermuda, Forum is a leading service provider to the global mutual fund, hedge fund and offshore fund industries.

2004

January 9: Washington Mutual Finance Corporation is acquired and joins the CitiFinancial family.

Citigroup acquired KorAm Bank, founded in 1988. KorAm was one of South Korea's largest commercial banks, with 223 branches.

The company's 20% investment in the Saudi-American Bank was sold.

A deal was struck for the First American Bank of Texas, with its 100 branches.

January 9: January 9: Washington Mutual Finance Corporation, which provided direct real estate-secured loans and consumer installment loans to consumers through 427 offices in 26 states, was acquired for $1.25 billion from its parent company, Washington Mutual, Inc., and joined CitiFinancial.

April 7: Financial Education events were held around the world to celebrate: Citigroup and the Citigroup Foundation announced their commitment of $200 million over 10 years to foster financial education globally among individuals, small businesses, and institutions under the slogan “Knowledge is your greatest asset.SM”

September: The Financial Services Agency of Japan ordered Citigroup to shut down its Japanese private banking operations within a year and for its trust banking unit to halt all new operations. The regulators also ordered Cititrust in Japan to shut down in October 2004. Internal controls, governance, and compliance issues underlay these actions. CEO Prince visited Japan and personally apologized for the failures of these Citigroup businesses.

December: As a tsunami devastated Indian Ocean coastal areas, the death toll reached 227,000. Among the nations suffering the most casualties were Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand. Citigroup and its employees raised $12 million for tsunami relief in 2004-2005 and numerous employees participated directly in the clean-up effort.

2005

Citigroup, the Citigroup Foundation, and Citigroup's employees committed more than $30 million for disaster relief to help in the aftermath of the tsunami in late 2004, the earthquake in south Asia, and the hurricanes in the US.

March 1: Citigroup launched a company-wide Five Point Plan, which focused on employee training, talent development, performance reviews, improved communications, and stronger controls.

Acquired First American Bank in Texas.

Sold Travelers Life and Annuity.

Swapped Asset Management business for Legg Mason's Wealth Management business.

Launched the Citigroup Microfinance Group to work with leading microfinance institutions, microfinance networks, and investors as commercial partners and clients.

Introduced the PayPass debit product, the first Cards rewards program in Egypt, mobile phone banking in Australia, and CitiFinancial transaction windows in post offices throughout Romania.

Issued the first dual-currency card in China.

CitiFinancial introduced a real estate-secured loan product in markets such as Hong Kong and Poland, where such loans had been unavailable.

Thirty employees took part in a disaster relief program sponsored by the American Red Cross—the first program of its kind. The volunteers worked for two weeks at Citigroup's expense to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

2006

April: Partnered with 7-Eleven to add 5,500 ATMs throughout the United States.

1,200 new retail and consumer finance branches opened globally.

Corporate and Investment Banking offices opened in Kuwait and Dubai.

Global Equities expanded into Russia, India, the Middle East, Brazil, and Canada.

July: American Airlines and Citi celebrated the 25th anniversary of the American Airlines AAdvantage Card product, the world's first travel awards program.

July: Citigroup, which had been one of four international banks behind the creation of the Equator Principles, now the industry standard, also participated in their updating.

New branches in Boston and Philadelphia housed both Citibank and Smith Barney businesses; CitiFinancial branches also began to offer Citibank products.

Launched biometric tools: the world's biometric credit card service (in Singapore) and its first biometric ATMs (in India).

Acquired 20% stakes in Akbank in Turkey and Guangdong Development Bank in China.

Citibank received a Moody's rating of Aaa, a rating that few other financial institutions can claim.

November 18: Citigroup employees participated in the organization's first-ever Global Community Day. 45,000 people—employees and their friends and families—volunteered time and talent in 100 countries to projects and people in their communities.

In a landmark deal--one of the world's largest microcredit financings--the Citi Microfinance Group, Citi in Bangladesh, and other partners, closed on the world first AAA-rated local currency microcredit securitization for BRAC—the world's largest national antipoverty, nongovernmental organization serving more than 5 million people, mostly women, in Bangladesh.

Banamex Aquí, now three years old, grew to 800 locations throughout Mexico to bring banking to underserved areas in Mexico by offering financial services through local businesses such as grocery stores. Banamex further partnered with Telecomm-Telégrafos, a leading telecommunications company and public subsidiary of the Mexican government, for Telecomm to offer selected banking services at its 1,554 branches throughout Mexico.

Corporate Realty Services committed Citigroup to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by ten percent from its buildings globally by 2011 and to having its buildings certified for environmental and energy design.

Global Wealth Management's Equity Research team published research on investing in solutions to climate change and other sustainability topics and also increased its ability to advise its clients on such issues.